This application is based on a patent application No.9-163994 filed in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for storing and managing image data.
In recent years, the field of information processing has attained a remarkable development, and in particular, personal computers and the like have made rapid progress in terms of performance. Accordingly, the increased use has been made of information processing apparatuses such as image database apparatuses and electronic filing apparatuses for capturing documental and pictorial images by means of an input device, accumulating, managing and retrieving them at need and printing the same by means of an output device not only in the business field and specific applications, but also among general users.
With these information processing apparatuses, the users retrieve desired image data from the accumulated image data and print the retrieved data by means of the output device. However, in this case, the size of the printed image data sometimes becomes not equal to the size of the original. For example, when an image of 20xc3x9710 inches in size is read by a scanner having a resolution of 150 dpi (dpi: dots per inch, or the number of pixels per inch), the amount of data of the image data becomes 3000xc3x971500 dots. When this is outputted by a printer having a resolution of 300 dpi, a size of 10xc3x975 inches results in. As described above, in the case where the resolution of the input device when capturing image data and the resolution of the output device when printing the data differ from each other, the size of the original image and the size of the printed image sometimes differ from each other.
In general, a user designates a paper size without recognizing the original size and adjusts the output image size by designating this paper size. That is, the user designates a large paper size when the user wants to output an image in a large size or designates a small paper size when the user wants to output an image in a small size. However, in the case of architectural drawings, mechanical drawings, maps and the like of which the scale is clearly indicated and correctly drawn based on the scale, it is desired to form an output in a size strictly identical to the size of the original.
As a solution to this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.6-236408 discloses a system in which image data is read and registered while being enlarged or reduced to a standardized size (the size to be registered is referred to as a xe2x80x9cregistered sizexe2x80x9d). It is also allowed to attach the information of the size of the original (original size) to the registered image data and select either the registered size or the original size for the formation of an output in the outputting stage. However, this prior art does not at all take the resolutions of the input device and the output device into consideration, but determines the size in the printing stage based on the number of pixels and the original size. In particular, it has an output magnification table which stores therein magnifications in changing the magnification of image data and calculates the size in the printing stage based on the values of the magnification table. The magnifications stored in the output magnification table are set according to the ratio of the input image size to the output image size. Therefore, it is effective in the case where the resolution of the input device or the output device is fixed. However, it becomes ineffective when the resolution of the input device or the output device is varied in a different system.
Lately, there has been announced FlashPix that is a new technique intended for the popularization of image data editing. This is an image data file format developed and proposed through the collaboration of Eastman Kodak Company, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company and others. This FlashPix format prescribes that an image data file should have image data as well as a variety of information expressing its contents (referred to as xe2x80x9ccontents informationxe2x80x9d hereinafter) in order to effectively manage the image data. For example, the FlashPix format prescribes that it should have the information for image data. The information includes the attribute groups comprising of xe2x80x9cfile sourcexe2x80x9d which describes in detail how the image data has been formed, xe2x80x9cintellectual propertyxe2x80x9d which includes the information on ownership and copyright, xe2x80x9ccontent descriptionxe2x80x9d which describes the contents of the image data and so on. The image data management according to this FlashPix format is considered to be popular in future. A technique for effectively utilizing the image data conforming to this FlashPix format is now demanded.
The present invention has been developed to solve the aforementioned problems and has an object to provide an information processing apparatus that stores and manages image data. It makes it possible to output image data in a size equal to the size in the data reading stage independently of the respective resolutions of an image input device and an image output device.
In one aspect of the invention, an information processing apparatus which receives an image data of an original image from an input device, stores and manages the image data; and outputs the image data to an output device, comprises a memory for storing the image data; a determination unit for determining a size of the original image which is to be outputted from said memory to the output device; a calculating unit for calculating a magnification of an image output so that an image size in the output device is identical to the size determined by determination unit; and an image outputting unit for outputting to said output device the image data stored in said memory at a magnification calculated by said calculating unit. Therefore, an output in a size equal to the original size can be formed. Furthermore this apparatus can also cope with the FlashPix format that is considered to be popular in future.
In another aspect of the invention, the information processing apparatus comprises a memory for storing therein an image data, a resolution of the image data and an image size of the image data; a calculating unit for calculating a magnification of an image output so that an image size in the output device is identical to the image size stored in the memory based on a resolution of said output device and the resolution of the image data stored in said memory; and an image outputting unit for outputting to said output device the image data stored in said memory at a magnification calculated by said calculating unit. With this apparatus, an output of a size equal to the original size can be formed.
In a further aspect of the invention, an output device which outputs an image transferred from an information processing apparatus which stores and manages an image, comprises a receiving means for receiving information of the image transferred from the information processing apparatus, a resolution of the image and a size of the image; a calculating means for calculating a magnification of an image output so as to output an image in a size received by said receiving means based on a resolution of an output device and a resolution of the image received by said receiving means; and an outputting means for outputting the image received by said receiving means at a magnification calculated by said calculating means. The outputting means may be a printing means or a display means. Therefore, an image output in the image size received from the information processing apparatus can be formed.
In a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided a correcting method comprising a step of correcting a magnification of an output image based on (a)a size of an input image, (b)a resolution of the input image, (c)a size of an output image and (d)a resolution of the output image so that the size of said input image and the size of said output image become equal to each other. Therefore, an image output in the size equal to the size of the input image can be formed.